and the educators are crying foul !!!!!
I love TX....
Every single penny spent on every single thing is absolutely necessary to let the educators tell it.
I see it differently.
I went online and looked at the original budget and the originally proposed cuts. Can we say redundancy? There are programs on top of programs, many of which seem to be aimed at achieving the exact same goals. All of these programs and plans and wonderful new ways of doing things cannot all be absolutely vital.
I see other things that have come to be seen as normal and necessary which really aren't. I remember back in the dark ages, in a state other than Texas, seeing my local school superintendent pull up in front of my high school and get out and walk inside. We all stood around and watched, because his pickup truck was so old the door nearly fell off every time he opened it. We kept waiting for it to fall off completely (it never did). The superintendent of my local ISD here in West Texas drives a school-owned (and fueled) new Suburban, as do several other Administration members. This is a small district, BTW.
The wife of an Administration member of another local ISD recently complained to me about how "poor" their small district is (it's small enough that they play six-man football). A day or so later she mentioned in conversation that they were going out of town to visit family, using her husband's frequent flyer miles he has acquired through his travel for the school district.
A friend of mine is married to yet another administrator at another nearby district. She frequently tells me he is going to be out of town, traveling for school. Any time anyone is going for any training, he goes too, though he does not spend any time in the classroom. He goes (in his school-owned and school-fueled vehicle) to "support the students" at every ball game, track meet, tennis match, literary meet, stock show, etc he can possibly get to. That's a nice idea, but necessary?? Then there are always "meetings."
Anyway, I am convinced that most school districts, if forced, could find ways to reduce spending other than taking textbooks and teachers out of the classrooms.